Oakland city leaders say Raiders didn't do enough to stay, 'They did not want us'

It's not just the fans who are angry about the Oakland Raiders moving to Las Vegas. City leaders say the team didn't do enough to try and stay in Oakland and they want them out long before the 2018 season finishes. (KGO-TV)

By the time she met with reporters inside city hall Monday who in Oakland had not heard that the Raiders threat to leave town for Las Vegas had become reality. "I, feel that we have been double-crossed. I feel that we have been abandoned," Oakland City Council President Larry Reid.

"We did everything they asked of us," Schaaf said. "This was their choice."

Schaaf lamented Monday what might have been on 55 acres adjacent to the existing Coliseum, a shovel-ready, privately-funded project endorsed by the city last winter.

From the start, Schaaf said she would spend no public funds on this new project, nor would she jeopardize the Oakland A's, who also lease that facility.

Regarding the A's, Schaaf says the NFL asked for too much. "I was specifically asked to exercise the early termination option that we have in their lease, kick them out of the Coliseum."

That's something she would not do, as evidenced one hour later when she raised the A's flag above city hall -- call it a strange scheduling juxtaposition. By comparison, there were no Raiders flags Monday. In fact, Reid says no he's looking for a way to evict the Raiders from their Coliseum lease immediately.

"Cause I don't want them there. They can go down to Santa Clara to play," said Reid. "They didn't want us. We busted our tails. They didn't engage with the City of Oakland in a way that would have allowed them to stay."

If Oakland sounds like the abandoned partner in a divorce, it feels that way.

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